Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) EVP Scott Alan Samuels Buys 15,000 Shares

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) EVP Scott Alan Samuels purchased 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $1.61 per share, for a total transaction of $24,150.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,958.02. This represents a 128.40 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Geron Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GERN opened at $1.76 on Monday. Geron Co. has a 1-year low of $1.46 and a 1-year high of $5.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.76. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.04). Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The company had revenue of $47.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.29 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Geron Co. will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank cut their price target on Geron from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley cut shares of Geron from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Geron from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Geron currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.68.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RTW Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 3rd quarter valued at about $200,268,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Geron in the third quarter worth approximately $82,498,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Geron by 140.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,565,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $102,193,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163,889 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP increased its position in Geron by 947.6% during the fourth quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 11,000,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,940,000 after purchasing an additional 9,950,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Braidwell LP purchased a new position in Geron during the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,802,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Geron

Geron Corporation, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for myeloid hematologic malignancies. It develops imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor that is in Phase 3 clinical trials, which inhibits the uncontrolled proliferation of malignant stem and progenitor cells in myeloid hematologic malignancies for the treatment of low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes and intermediate-2 or high-risk myelofibrosis.